https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style Style Advice for Fashion Lovers en-US Thu, 09 Apr 2026 06:06:29 +0000 http://bbpress.org/?v=1.0.2 q https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/search.php https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1545579 Tue, 25 Aug 2015 22:13:15 +0000 Iron Ethel Flint 1545579@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This is a great thread, and very helpful for me personally.</p> <p>No style as fading into the woodwork, not attracting negative attention, getting in and out of the grocery store without a lot of hassle etc. is not always easy for everyone but it's kind of an embarrassing question to ask directly. I've gotten a lot of helpful information on specific items to look for.</p> <p>No style as in looking unattractive, wearing clothes that don't suit your body type or are inappropriate&nbsp; for your surroundings etc. is also embarrassing, but something that, ime, can be addressed, and that people tend to respect a person for at least trying to correct.</p> <p>No style as in no preference don't care is something I simply can't seem to achieve! When I've directly asked for advice on "fading into the woodwork" I've found it necessary to make the effort to be appropriately polite even when I'm inwardly groaning, "But I HATE those jeans that make your butt look too fat!", "But you say hippie like it's a bad thing!" etc.</p> <p>It may not be advantageous or expedient to act upon our clothing preferences, but we can't change the fact that all of us do have them.</p> <p>I think all of us care to some extent even when other things have to take priority, such as our jobs, not hurting MIL's feelings, not wanting people to point at us and laugh, avoiding physical discomfort, etc.</p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524750 Wed, 22 Jul 2015 05:11:29 +0000 rachylou 1524750@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Stays fit... I kinda like that def... Una, I'm thinking no style is different from frumpy... That it doesn't have to be shlumpy, just kinda iffy... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524485 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:57:17 +0000 Astrid 1524485@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oh Una, now you've done it... To me "no style" is the absence of any intention. Which makes it rare, I think. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524482 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:52:17 +0000 catgirl 1524482@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>And just to throw another tangent in the mix: is "no style" frumpy?&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524480 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:48:39 +0000 Staysfit 1524480@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>So, the way I am interpreting "no" style is a lack of defined style. In psychiatry we have a term called alexithymia, which is a person who cannot identify their own feelings. Clinically, they mirror the feelings of whomever they are around. I can imagine a similar phenomenon in fashion where a person has no concept of their personal style sense and so they randomly purchase whatever appears at the moment. Maybe they see an actress in an outfit so they buy it; and then they see a friend in another outfit so they buy it and so on, but there is nothing to link the various items. It just becomes a hodge podge of items. Perhaps someone may want to call that method a style? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524446 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 21:12:52 +0000 catgirl 1524446@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I also think "no style" is not always for lack of caring but may be what happens when other things are a priority - be they needs like food and rent, or work and kids. I feel lucky to be able to indulge in style as an interest. Putting together a fallback closet is all that stands between me and no style on certain days, and I know many members have attested to that when they have an unexpected crisis. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524417 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 20:33:29 +0000 RoseandJoan 1524417@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><em></em>&nbsp;“Vulgarity is a very important ingredient in life. I’m a great believer in vulgarity—if it’s got vitality. A little bad taste is like a nice splash of paprika. We all need a splash of bad taste—it’s hearty, it’s healthy, it’s physical. I think we could use more of it. No taste is what I’m against.” - 
Diana Vreeland</p> <p>Oh yes, there is a difference between bad style and no style. No style forms part of a persons belief system, bad style is in the eye of the beholder. </p> <p>No style&nbsp;uses little energy when discerning how to dress, whilst it can take an inordinate amount of energy to judge&nbsp;and rate the stylishness&nbsp;of others ;-)</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524408 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 20:11:20 +0000 rachylou 1524408@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>That's an interesting thought, Judy. No style as a cancellation of one's style. Which is different from mortification of the senses, as comes with a habit. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524392 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 19:43:40 +0000 judy 1524392@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Interesting question and thread! &nbsp;I can't really answer your question well of what would be my no style style. &nbsp;But agree that style is a way of paying attention to oneself or to clothes or a way of being in the body. &nbsp;Think of some stylish person and then how they'd look or feel wearing a trash bag for example. &nbsp;Probably still stylish! &nbsp;</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524307 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 17:28:42 +0000 rachylou 1524307@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ya know... My parents backyard is no style. Now the thing about this is, they do like to plant and water things, but it never adds up to a whole garden. They have some pots, and some of these have live plants and some just dry dirt, and they're strewn between stuff junked in the backyard. Like the old chimney brick, which chimney came down in the earthquake.</p> <p>Now, this does actually culminate in 'a' style... The sort of eccentric, academic, hippie look so prevalent in town. That is, it's telling about their class and neighborhood and so forth... But still, it's fundamentally no style I think you could say. It's appropriate and everything, yet there's just no there there... There's no garden to their gardening... </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524254 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 16:08:03 +0000 Gaylene 1524254@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I've been reading all the other comments with interest, but I'm still holding on to the idea that "no-style" does exist and that it is different than "bad" style, or "anti-style", or "ironic" style--or whatever other adjectives we might use as descriptors. </p> <p>The key, for me, is indifference on the part of the wearer. Like Una's lack of interest in her garden (which, by the way, I totally understand ), I think there are people for whom the whole idea of personal style merits nothing more than a shrug of the shoulders. They don't dislike or rebel against style, it's just the concept has no place in their daily lives. Others can coin a descriptor for the look, but that descriptor is meaningless to the no-style person. The no-style dresser, like the no-style gardener, might employ someone else to apply a fix, but the end result is more to avoid negative interactions than aesthetics. </p> <p>I can actually think of a colleague who would fit my definition of a no-style dresser. She was a brillant woman who was totally uninterested in what went on her body. Every couple of years, she sent someone to buy her two jackets, two shirts, and two pairs of pants that went together. She never tried the items on--as long as zippers zipped and buttons buttoned, she was fine. She wore those items daily. She always looked presentable, but clothes just never made it on to her radar. This website would have baffled her. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524215 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 14:42:38 +0000 catgirl 1524215@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>This is such an interesting topic! </p> <p>Take my garden.&nbsp; I CANNOT add gardening to my to-do list at the moment, and I don't enjoy it.&nbsp; My garden sends a clear "I don't care" message - it's full of weeds and overgrown, untended, neglected plants (I hear some of you crying).&nbsp; Now, if I pulled it all up and filled it with gnomes and flamingoes, or paved it over, that would be different.&nbsp; It would say "I care, but I don't necessarily&nbsp;care what you think."&nbsp; Or I could spray paint the weeds black, which would say "I care what you think,&nbsp;HOA,&nbsp;and I rebel against it!"</p> <p>What is the style equivalent of my untended garden?&nbsp; </p> <p>(Which by the way, I am considering hiring someone to fix up and make into a low maintenance zone - because I do care, just not enough to make an effort myself.) </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524129 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 12:10:50 +0000 Anonymous 1524129@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>In my previous post, I wrote that&nbsp;style conveys a strong message: <i>I care about how I look. How I look affects the way I feel. I feel better about myself when I dress a certain way.</p> <p></i>It would stand to reason that no style would be the antithesis of that: <i>I <b>don't</b> care about how I look. How I look <b>doesn't</b> affect the way I feel. I <b>don't</b> feel better about myself when I dress a certain way.</i> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524109 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 11:06:25 +0000 Helen11 1524109@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I'm really enjoying this....except I think I have worn almost every one of the above mentioned no-style outfits! Tell me I'll be alright now that I'm here </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1524063 Tue, 21 Jul 2015 07:37:46 +0000 rachylou 1524063@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>How about no style as a certain lack of conviction? Like I don't think my personal no style outfit is bad, or unflattering, or uncaring, or even unfashionable... But I find it a very weak, extremely tepid presentation of myself...</p> <p>Or to put it another way... Can 'a' style have no style? </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523869 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 23:59:19 +0000 Peri 1523869@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Oops, I'm going to have to chime in and disagree with absolutely everyone. In all seriousness, I don't think there is any such thing as "no style".</p> <p>What everyone is listing is their own personal definition of <i>bad style</i>...not <i>no style</i>. Whatever we put on is some kind of style. Someone going around not caring is actually a style...their own personal style may be to not care at all what they look like. To dress out of fashion, in something dated or unflattering or whatever <i>is a style</i>. It may be other's opinion that this is bad style, but it is not no style. </p> <p>I may be nitpicking on word definitions, but personal taste is distinctly personal. If I think something looks bad, or looks like the person hasn't tried, that's just my opinion, not objective truth. I've seen plenty of things that I just can't stand, that others think is great. It is not possible to dress "no style". </p> <p>And now I've typed the word style so often it doesn't even look like a word anymore....which is exquisitly appropriate. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523841 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 22:56:56 +0000 Anonymous 1523841@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Rachy -- this was such a fun post. &nbsp;I'll have to come back later and try to read through all the comments. &nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523823 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 22:28:06 +0000 Lyn D. 1523823@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>'No-Style' dressing for me is putting pieces together that don't match, or obviously out of trend items like shoulder pads or old-fashioned jeans. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523711 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 19:37:43 +0000 always trying 1523711@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>90 percent of the people you encounter every day do not even notice what you wear unless you are real outside the norm. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523626 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 17:32:20 +0000 Laura (rhubarbgirl) 1523626@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><i>How I look affects the way I feel. I feel better about myself when I dress a certain way.</i></p> <p>This is certainly true for me, and for a lot of people. Yet I wonder if it's true for everyone. I have friends - most male but some female - who honestly aren't this way. In fact, most of them, when were younger, struggled with the geek social fallacy thing around the issue that "what someone's wearing shouldn't affect other people's opinion of them" just isn't the way it works in the real world. Most have accepted it, on a pragmatic level, yet I don't think they really understand why it's true. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523623 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 17:26:34 +0000 Diana 1523623@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Ok now that I've actually read the replies... </p> <p>I interpret the idea of "no style" as dressing without a thought for how the outfit looks or will be perceived.&nbsp; Or in other words, if the aesthetics (either vis a vis the wearer or the observer) were completely taken out of the equation.&nbsp; What is left?&nbsp; For me, this would be comfort, function, and utility.</p> <p>To me, consciously dressing to blend in, or normcore, or anything like that, is still a <i>style</i>, as in a deliberate choice, although it may not be to everyone's mind <i>stylish</i>.&nbsp; </p> <p> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523621 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 17:17:44 +0000 Diana 1523621@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>If I wanted to dress with no style, I'd wear a shapeless muumuu, no bra, and beat up old Naot slides.&nbsp; All about comfort.&nbsp; The thing is that I DO wear very similar, but just more deliberate, versions of the same thing on a regular basis.&nbsp; Sack dress (so basically a shorter, slightly more shapely/leg revealing version of a muumuu) &amp; Naot sandals (just less beat up, ha), and I do wear a bra but I ditch it the minute I get home.&nbsp; Speaking of which, my loungewear is often veering very close to the no-style version too, but I honestly don't care.&nbsp; </p> <p>So I guess what I'm saying is that I would have some of the same priorities (comfort, no restrictive clothing, etc), it's just all in the details of the interpretation. </p> <p></p> <p>ETA: Or in other words, the bones are the same, it's just whether or not I layer some fashion sense over them.&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/3#post-1523611 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 17:08:49 +0000 Anonymous 1523611@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p><b>Elizabeth P</b> pretty much summed up what I was trying to convey. A no=style look would be one in which you come across as clueless and/or not caring about your appearance. Yes, there is a lot of truth in wearing styles that one can successfully carry off &amp; therefore stylish on you vs. clothing that would be stylish on another person. Still, in my mind, style conveys a strong message: <i>I care about how I look. How I look affects the way I feel. I feel better about myself when I dress a certain way.</i> </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523577 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 16:13:56 +0000 E 1523577@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Hmmm...I'm trying to think of my No Style look. I'd definitely wear my tight dark wash skinnies (I have to blend in when I go to the downtown library and skinnies accomplish that best) on bottom. And I guess I'd add my plain grey tee shirt, no accessories, and pull my hair back in a short little ponytail (luckily when I go to the library I can wear a blouse and add some jewellery to make the skinnies fee like me!). But I'm still stuck for footwear! I don't think I own a single pair of shoes that read mainstream. Lol Oh, since it's summer I have a really old pair of flip flops I use as house shoes. Those could work! That would let me blend in, although right now I'd have to switch the skinnies for denim cut offs, which I don't have.</p> <p>I think it's really difficult for women to truly have a 'no style,' as in their clothes say nothing, though. Even the women in my life who aren't interested in style, I imagine strangers still make assumptions about them based on their outfits. Whereas the generic guy outfit AG described seems more impervious...at least for middle class white men. </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523556 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:52:05 +0000 Kirstjen 1523556@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>My unstyled style would be a pair of black leggings, black long sleeved t shirt, black moto boots &amp; some silver hoops. &nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523539 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:39:43 +0000 catgirl 1523539@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Elizabeth, I know that person too!&nbsp; Seriously.&nbsp; </p> <p>I also know a lot of superfit women who don't care what they wear as long as it works for their needs&nbsp;- they are in gear 24/7.&nbsp; I realize they are athletes for the joy of it and not to look good, but frankly I'd be showing off&nbsp;now and then&nbsp;if I had what they do!&nbsp; And then there are gear snobs who DO care about the latest and greatest offerings.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523523 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 15:15:49 +0000 Elizabeth P 1523523@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think "no style" is about being oblivious and totally not caring.&nbsp; When I read this a certain person I know popped right into my head... She's often in mens crewneck type tees purchased on some vacation, tucked into mom jeans she got in the 90's that are narrow in the leg, but a bit too long, so they all bunch up into her running shoes.&nbsp; She looks great when she puts an effort in, to go out, but her hang around the house clothes just scream "these still fit, I'll wear these". </p> <p>Trying to blend in, to my mind, is a style unto itself.&nbsp; If you are trying not to stand out, you care, and are aware of what you need to do or wear to create this "style".</p> <p>Great question! </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523516 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 14:57:15 +0000 Liz 1523516@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I think it's impossible to dress with no style -- anything one wears consistently turns into one's style.* That's why costume designers in movies work SO hard to get each character's clothes to match who the character is -- I'm sure they work just as hard to create the wardrobe for a "no style" leading character as they would for a "style icon" leading character. &nbsp;</p> <p>*Of course, there is such a thing as someone wearing clothes that a "stylish" person would not recognize as a "style."&nbsp;<br />&nbsp; </p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523509 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 14:50:12 +0000 UmmLila (Lisa) 1523509@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>Rachylou, if your question was meant more as what would each of us do as a no style, as opposed to what we observe e.g. among tired people at the grocery store, &nbsp;then I think my no style outfit is always one where I did not wear jewelry. My own clothing is always intentionally chosen enough that it's not terrible if I wear crops and a t-shirt. But If I forgot to add jewelry I'd feel under-done.</p> https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/topic/if-you-wanted-to-dress-with-no-style/page/2#post-1523507 Mon, 20 Jul 2015 14:45:57 +0000 Flytigress 1523507@https://youlookfab.com/welookfab/ <p>I noticed a woman recently at a nail salon. &nbsp;She had long, frizzy, scraggly gray hair scraped back into a ponytail &nbsp;Big glasses that would have been popular in the 1970's, the kind 20-somethings might wear ironically, but they seemed to be the same frames she'd been wearing for decades. &nbsp;Some kind of pastel smock top and polyester pants. &nbsp;Big white athletic shoes. &nbsp;No makeup.</p> <p>She had no style. &nbsp;But she also CARED, cared enough to spend a lot of money getting fake acrylic nails, which require upkeep. &nbsp;</p> <p>Do some women only have the energy to care about one tiny part of their look? &nbsp; </p>